Monday Market Briefing - 17th August 2020

When the weather finally broke in the south this weekend, 95% of the wheat harvest was finished across the region with all the quality grades safely in. Spring barleys are not far behind in the south east but perhaps only 30-40% cut in the south west. Uneven ripening has held up those crops and it’s a fair bet they won’t suffer for a short delay.

It’s possible now to characterise the overall quality of the harvest across our region. Milling wheats are bold with rock-solid hagbergs. Proteins are slightly below average - but if you have a protein preference, you will be able to find it as the whole range is out there. Malting barleys are producing a number of higher N samples which will downgrade straight to feed this year with such narrow premiums on offer. Surprisingly there is some fusarium disease around in some samples which underlines the importance of careful sampling before you commit. At intake our selection rate for malt is running in excess of 70%, so we are not going to run out of malt this year. Winter oats are disappointing; the huge range of sowing dates is a factor here. We definitely need the springs to do well if we are to have an orderly oat market this year.

As we said last week, markets had already fallen to a long standing support level and thus spent a choppy week without real direction and we expect similar this week. At home there doesn’t appear to be enough harvest selling pressure to force prices lower, but will buyers recognise this and start to bid for their winter requirements? Most of them have sorted their immediate needs for August by now, so we have a key couple of weeks ahead which may well set the tone for the autumn campaign.

Have a good week and stay safe